J Ash Gamble Writes

Sass Me

Don’t sass me, mama told
us, but these kids today
don’t seem to listen, don’t
seem to mind much,

Hearth

Here is the home
I promised you and you
promised me, just a little
too late
Here is the man
you wanted me to be
arrived the day after.

Getting Ready

She's been getting ready to leave
for years now. Scratching at the door
like a lonely, amorous cat.

She pads along the hall at night,
smothers herself sometimes in her
own memory, and fights me tooth
and nail.

One day, she wandered down the street,
fully nude, and the neighbors had to help
me catch her.

I'm looking, she keeps saying, looking
for him. I have to wonder if I am him.

J Ash Gamble